Saturday, June 24, 2017

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Author:
Therese ONeillStars:
2Review by: BKFI was looking forward to reading this book The facts were interesting, but very early on I was turned off by the author's style...an ongoing insertion of the author's 'wit, sarcasm, and cutesy comments' forced me to skim the pages until I finished the book.

Author:
Thomas R. SchiffStars:
4Review by: libraryaimeeOversized book of photos from libraries around the U.S. Gorgeous photos of fabulous libraries that make you want to plan some road trips to visit them!

Author:
Elena FerranteStars:
5Review by: Nancy WThis is the fourth book in Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan series. I read the other 3 earlier this year. They told the life story of a pair of Italian women who were born in the 1940s. These books were translated from Italian and the vocabulary was of a higher level. I liked the story, but was a bit lost when it got into Italian politics.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Author:
Colson WhiteheadStars:
5Review by: Cheryl MThe strength of the main character Cora alone is well worth the read but
the writer's prose and his ability for you to visualize the scenes
enables the reader to be drawn in. For those struggling with the
beginning,
keep reading!

Billie has been missing for almost a year after leaving on a
solo hike and is about to be declared legally dead so her husband Jonathan, and
he hopes in turn, teenage daughter Olive can get on with their lives. Olive is having sightings of her mother and
is certain Billie is still alive and trying to let Olive know. As Jonathan begins to clear out the detritus
of not only a marriage but of a life as well, he begins to uncover things about
his wife that suggest she kept many secrets from her family. While Jonathan and Olive struggle with
whether or not Billie is dead or has just disappeared and if she did, why did
she disappear, they must rearrange themselves for their lives without
Billie. This multi-layered story of a
woman’s life and her leaving of that life force Jonathan to take a hard look at
his marriage and the woman he married and Olive to consider her vibrant,
nature-loving mother in a different light and for father and daughter to find
their ways once again, together as a family and separately. Many different themes will elicit discussion
among book groups.

The Breakdown by BA Paris

Driving home one stormy night, Cass takes a short cut
through the woods near her house and happens upon a woman in a car; the woman
doesn’t appear to be in distress and the rain is coming down in torrents so
Cass continues on her way home. The next
day she learns that the woman was murdered a short time after Cass drove on and
then she realizes the woman, Jane, is the woman Cass just met and had lunch
with not long before; Cass becomes wracked with guilt that she did not
stop. Slowly, Cass begins to forget
things and conversations and becomes increasingly afraid she is succumbing to
the same fate her mother did: early onset dementia. But in the back of her mind, Cass thinks
there is more to her “forgetfulness” it than that as she begins to receive
silent calls daily and beings to wonder if someone is trying to make her mad or
at least convince her she is going mad.
Little by little Cass begins to put the pieces together to reveal a
picture more terrifying than she imagined.
High tension and an urgency to the narrative keeps pages turning to the
shocking conclusion in this second novel from the author of Behind Closed Doors.

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Isa left Salten, a boarding school located in a gothic
setting on the English Channel, over fifteen years ago, married and has a new
baby. When she gets a three-word text,
“I need you” from her classmate Kate she knows that two other women from
school, Fatima and Thea, have received the same text and the day has come to
answer for the secrets and lies they kept and told while at school. A bone has been found along the shore in an
area near Salten known as the Reach and these four women think they know to
whom it belonged. Joining Kate, who has
stayed in the artist studio in which she grew up with her father, the women
revisit their school years, including the Lying Game in which players garnered
points for various lies and deceptions, the biggest rule being never lie to
each other: but one of them did and it
has come back to haunt them. Even as
their shared past is revealed, Isa realizes that not everything is as it seems
and if the focus is shifted just a bit, things take on new meanings and that
maybe all lies contain a truth and maybe truth is what we tell ourselves and
come to believe over time. Creepy and
gothic, this addictive novel is as gripping as it is thoughtful.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Author:
Ruth WareStars:
2Review by: Pam DIt's advertised to be a
thriller along the lines of Gone Girl. It isn't. The book got silly
around Chapter 29. It wasn't horrible, but I wouldn't recommend a rush
to read it.

Author:
Maeve BinchyStars:
5Review by: BeachBarb I reread this Maeve Binchy
book which I believe was the first of hers that I read years and years
ago. I didn't remember it, just remembered how much I had liked it. It
didn't disappoint me the second time around.
A great story!!

Author:
Louise PennyStars:
5Review by: BookDancerI'm hooked on listening to
these mysteries set in the fictional community of Three Pines, Quebec,
performed by Ralph Cosham. They combine the best elements of great
whodunits; wonderful characters, great setting and
suspenseful, well-crafted plots. Won't stop until I've finished all 12
of them...Louise Penny is my new favorite author!

Author:
Lincoln ChildStars:
3Review by: jambobSomeone is metamorphing into a werewolf during the full moon! Grisly
murders, dark nights, screams and a mystery. A fast summer read by a
master thriller author.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Author:
Celeste NgStars:
5Review by: JudyWonderful, emotionally
moving book about a death and a family. The dynamics within the family
both before and after the death are what causes the reader to react
emotionally.

Author:
Peter HatchStars:
5Review by: ShapoppaWhat an interesting read
about Thomas Jefferson's experimental garden written by Monticello's
Director of Gardens & Grounds Emeritus, Peter Hatch. If you're an
avid gardener, it's a must-read. If you're like me, a
lover of American history and someone who likes the idea of an
expansive garden, but will settle for a couple of pots on the deck, it's
still a must-read! Jefferson kept such detailed notes about his garden
and Hatch describes the history of how Jefferson
devised his garden, how seeds were tracked, and how the garden was
organized, dug, and maintained back then, and today. He even writes
about the restoration of the garden in later years. Part II of the book
is a catalog of various "fruits, roots, and leaves"
that were planted at Monticello. A horticultural achievement.

Author:
Julia GlassStars:
5Review by: BKFTerrific book! It's about a family-- father, mother, three adult sons --
over the course of about ten years and how their lives intersect and
take some really surprising turns. It was very adult reading, not at all
sappy.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Author:
Aharon AppelfeldStars:
2Review by: LizzytishI get the premise of this book. Somehow it felt flat. Two dimensional. Erwin annoyed me somehow. And the pacing was enough to put me to sleep. I felt for the other characters more and was silently cheering them on. Then there was the ending which felt so abrupt. This is just my opinion and I know other people love the book.

While reading
it I thought it was slow, but after it was over I missed the
characters. A character study of a repressed, bi-racial family. No one
discusses anything emotional which leads to big consequences...emotional
and moving. You don't realize its effect until after it is over!

I loved this
book! I love Starla and Eula. A great perspective on blacks in the Deep
South during the early 1960's. A story of love and redemption. What is
family? What makes one display courage and
strength. The author knows how to weave words to tear at your
heartstrings.

God's job ain't to make our lives easier, it's to make us better souls by the lessons he give us.

Sarah and her
husband are vacationing on a beach in Nigeria when they come across
Little Bee and her sister. No one's life is ever the same again.

Each chapter
alternates between Little Bee's voice and Sarah's which got confusing at
times. The pivotal moment in the book focuses around the murder of
Nigerian villagers for the valuable oil beneath their
land. This one moment, told as a memory, will not be soon forgotten.

I know this
was a bestseller of 2015, but I just got around to reading it now. It's a
very well written story of a heartbreaking moral dilemma with the
background of a desolate lighthouse off the coast
of Australia. I actually rented the movie at the same time I was
reading the end of the book. The movie was filmed from New Zealand, but the scenery was breathtaking.

I highly recommend
reading this book and seeing the perspective of the different characters. It is
very thought-provoking. I also recommend watching the movie because the wind
swept story stays with you for quite a while.

I used to think I liked everything Jodi Picoult wrote...but this one proved me wrong.

Not only could I
not relate to any of the characters in the book on any level, I found
nothing about any of them to be attractive or believable. A personal
quirk of mine is to continue reading a book to the end
once I have gotten through a certain number of pages...I kept reading
this one waiting for the twist or excitement or anything that typically
makes Picoult's work so engaging, but this piece fell flat. Extremely
repetitive, dull, and predictable. This has me
wondering if it's worth picking up another Picoult book ever again.

The Secret
Life of Bees was an excellent read; it tackles tough topics in an
endearing and graceful manner. It is a heartwarming story that
redefines the meaning of family. Women and girls of all ages
will be moved by the beautiful relationships described in the novel.

Realized a few
months ago that I have a TON of children's books in my personal library
that I have not yet read. This summer I plan to change that reality.
This was an easy, quick read and I thoroughly
enjoyed it.

I'd heard
about the movie The Intouchables when I was in Utah recently but
wanted to read the book. I actually got the wrong book ~ this one was
written by Driss, the caregiver. The book I wanted
was Second Wind written by the gentleman who Driss cared for. I have
since ordered Second Wind since the library doesn't have a copy. That
said, it was interesting reading Driss' perspective. I want to read
both books before watching the movie which
has been HIGHLY recommended. Perhaps it was his writing style which had
me give it a 3 instead of a 4, but nonetheless their story is worth a
"look see".

This is a 910 page novel and it has some mathematics in it,
so it is a heavy duty read. Part science fiction and part historical
novel it flips back and forth between WWII and almost the present day.
During WWII you meet an eccentric cryptographer
and his friend Alan Turing and a gung-ho Marine who occasionally serves
with the cryptographer. During the present day you meet their
descendants, who are also intertwined in each other's lives, as well as a
couple of characters who are present in both timelines.

Stephenson is a very verbose writer. He weaves a large
tapestry of details through several plot lines. If you like to get lost
in a book this is a good one to pick.

Another debut cozy. However, this is an upscale version. Most cozies are
like fast food, where as this one is like an upscale cafe. Delightful
characters with a love for puns, bring enjoyment
to the story. A retired police officer owns a vintage toy shop which his
daughter, Liz, helps run. There is a murder one night in the shop. Liz's
Dad can't recall what happened, though he was there. Is it amnesia? Is
dementia setting in? She must help clear
her dad. It's not all play as she searches for a Clue, while taking a
Risk and we're not talking the game of Life here. Or are we?

A debut cozy
mystery series involving felines. I love cats, I love mysteries. This
book? Not so much. There are a few bizarre murders, mixed along with the
mundane musings of the 2 main characters. It's
a fun concept, and it even had some quirky twists. It was amusing, but
not captivating enough to continue the series.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

This cleverly constructed mystery is both an homage to the
Golden Age of mysteries along with poking a bit of fun at the genre in a
tongue-in-cheek way. Publishing editor
Susan Ryeland has holed up for the night to read mystery mega-author, the
odious Alan Conway’s latest manuscript The
Magpie Murders, contained within the pages of Horowitz’s book. To Susan’s frustration, the last chapters of
the book, the ones containing Atticus Pund’s solution to who killed Mary Elizabeth
Blakiston, housekeeper of Pye Hall, the home of Sir Magnus Pie. When she returns to the office, Susan learns
that the chapters may be lost to time, as Conway has died over the weekend. Susan heads to Conway’s home she deduces that
he did not kill himself but in fact was murdered. As Susan begins to investigate ala Pund, she
realizes the similarities between Conway’s latest mystery and his own life,
recognizing characters from the book as thinly veiled people in his life,
Conway’s lover, his wife and even his next-door neighbor. Susan returns to the manuscript to look for
clues and what she finds, over the series of Atticus Pund’s oeuvre is even
cleverer than she originally suspected. Fans
of traditional and contemporary mysteries will dive headlong into this latest
work from the creator of Midsomer Murders
and Foyle’s War and not want to leave
until the last suspect has been unmasked.

Thursday, June 1, 2017

This sophomore offering by the author of the mystical Season of the Dragonflies introduces
readers to country singer and fiddle play Jo Lover who is about to make it
bigger on the country music scene than in her wildest dreams. She has carefully cultivated her image which
is about to be placed in jeopardy when her small record label merges with
Columbia Records who brings along her ex-boyfriend J.D. Gunn. When the record execs dream up a joint
concert for the duo, their chemistry takes over and the pair goes viral and Jo
becomes afraid of not only having to give up her dreams of being a solo artist
but is also fearful that the secrets of the past that she has so carefully
hidden will be revealed destroying her carefully crafted persona. Jo soon realizes there may only be one way
to get her career back, but at what cost.
Soulful and bittersweet, plays out like a country music song and
illustrates the often unseen, at times uglier side of the music industry and
the struggles artists, especially women, must face in order to realize their
dreams. As Jo learns, though, success
and happiness don’t always go hand in hand nor do they necessary line up with
one’s dreams and how success and happiness were viewed. Creech is a fresh voice in woman’s fiction;
book groups will find much to discuss, perhaps against a background of country music.

Crooked Lane Books is a recent newcomer to the world of
mystery publishing. Founded in 2014,
they are committed to publishing high quality mysteries and getting them into
the hands of the people who love them the most.
Two of their cozy mysteries coming out this spring highlight the talent
of two seasoned mystery authors, E.J. Copperman and Maia Chance, each with a
new series. Copperman’s Edited Out is the second in “A
Mysterious Detective Mystery” featuring a mystery author whose main character
may have just come to life, and Chance’s is the first “An Agnes and Effie
Mystery” featuring a great aunt and niece who team up to restore an old in to
its former glory.

Edited Out by E.J. Copperman

Mystery writer Rachel Goldman has writer’s block: after
several entries into the Duffy Madison series, Duffy Madison has appeared
before Rachel, seemingly sprung from the air certain he came about when Rachel
created him. Now Rachel cannot write a
story for the fictional Duffy without worrying about the effects it may have on
the living Duffy who is a consultant for the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
missing person’s squad, ironic because the man who claims to be Duffy may
actually be a missing person himself.
Rachel decides the only way to purge herself of the real Duffy is to
uncover Duffy’s past and determine once and for all whether or not he is Damien
Mosley who disappeared about the same time Duffy appeared. The unlikely pair heads off to Poughkeepsie
from where Damien, and presumably Duffy, hailed, where they interview people
from Damien’s past and learn that Duffy cannot be Damien---but if he’s not
Damien, who is he? Rachel is a bright
young woman with a sardonic streak (which she would say she is entitled to
being from New Jersey) and a soft spot for her unlikely sidekick Duffy. Copperman has written a clever mystery in
which the plot is mirrored in Rachel’s writing.
The idea that Duffy sprang to life from Rachel’s imagination is
intriguing and their investigation into Duffy’s identity is sure to provide
further engaging adventures for this unlikely duo. Few out there do wry humor better than
Copperman.

Bad Housekeeping by Maia Chance

The author of two other mysteries series debuts with this
humorous cozy series featuring a one-time, but still glamourous model, Great
Aunt Effie, and her niece Agnes, who still harbors anger toward her aunt for
suggesting to an agent that Agnes would make a good “husky” model while the
girl was still in her teens. Agnes has
just been unceremoniously dumped by her boyfriend and kicked out of their
apartment, and finds herself back home with her father in Naneda, NY. Agnes has
also just been fired from her job at the library where she breaks an artifact
that the head of the historical society, Kathleen Todd believes was done on
purpose. Effie, who has just inherited
the rundown Stagecoach Inn from a cousin is back in town to restore it to its
former glory and may have just threatened to wring Kathleen’s neck if Agnes
doesn’t get her job back. Unfortunately
for Effie (and Kathleen as well), Kathleen is murdered, strangled, and Effie
becomes the prime suspect, forcing Agnes and Effie to join together to save
each other’s back…but will they be able to do that without killing each other
(figuratively) in the process? This over
the top cozy is filled with delightful, entertaining characters that will
endear themselves to readers and keep them coming back for more.

Build a Better World

The 11th Annual Adult Summer Reading Club has come to a close.

The club's 157 members have read a total of 1,515 books!

Thank you, all, for your enthusiastic participation.

Quote to Inspire

"Fiction, imaginative work that is, is not dropped like a pebble upon the ground, as science may be; fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners."~Virginia Woolf

11th Annual

To see a larger image of this graph, look through the member reviews. It will usually be posted on Friday afternoons.

How to Use this Blog:

To post a review for a book, please submit it via the "Finished a Book" link from the club's webpage: http://www.hclibrary.us/asrc.htm.

Because all posts & comments must be approved by the library, and because the librarians sometimes take summer vacations too, there will be a delay before you see your submission on the blog. Please be patient; your review will appear.